Hello everyone,
I trust this email finds everyone well after a glorious March break. We look forward to the return of students Monday March 19, 2012 as we begin our way toward the end of the year…where has the time gone?
Progress Reports
In anticiptation of parent teacher interviews being held on Wednesday March 28, 2012 between 4 and 7:30 p.m., every student had mailed home a progress report providing parents with an anecdotal snapshot pertaining to progress to date in each of their courses. These one page documents include information on each course. On the back of the sheet is a booking sheet for parent teacher interviews. If you are interested in scheduling an interview with your child’s teacher(s), please have your child return to school with the sheet and your requested times to present to teachers. Teachers will confirm the date and time initially with your child who will then in turn bring the progress report back home to confirm with you, the parent. We look forward to hosting you on the evening of Wednesday March 28, 2012.
OSSLT reminder
This is a quick reminder to parents that students in grade 10 will be writing the OSSLT for the first time on Thursday March 29, 2012 in the morning. All students in grade 10 will be writing the test for the first time along with any other students who have not yet been successful in passing previous attempts. In both cases teachers are busy preparing students by exposing them to task specific assessments in preparation for this graduation requirement. Further practice materials may be found on the Ministry website at www.edu.gov.on.ca.
Grade 9′s to Write mock-up
This year for the first time at Bell HS we will be providing students in grade 9 classes in period one with an opportunity to complete at least one reading and one longer writing task identical to the OSSLT itself. The spirit behind this plan is to provide all students in grade 9 who will be completing their first official attempt in a years time with the “experience” inherrent in this form of testing at the high school level. At the school level, the tests will be evaluated in-house and will allow us to begin to identify those students who we feel may be experiencing some initial difficulty on this standardized test to allow us to better prepare them again for their first official write next year.
Graduation Ceremonies
As we move closer to graduation ceremonies for students in grade 12, I wanted to provide you with information specifically pertaining to the celebratory nature of this milestone for students. Please see the attachment below.
attachment: 2012 Bell Grad Letter
Ottawa Student Transportation Authority (OSTA) Consultations
The aformentioned organization put together in response to the Province’s request for the four boards in the Ottawa region to amalgamate their efforts in getting students to schools each day. OSTA is that organization responsible for the organization and logistics around bussing students (yellow, OC Transpo) from all four boards to their schools each day.
OSTA is going through a consultation phase seeking input from the school community. The attached memorandum will provide more information as well as dates for you to consider attending public consultations to provide your feedback and/or suggestions.
attachment: Mar blog OSTA Consultation 2012-Memo to princs
Parenting Now: What’s Up with Today’s Youth?
Does this question resonate with you? Want to hear an expert discuss it? Dr. Michael Cheng, Staff Psychiatrist from CHEO will be addressing this question on the morning of Saturday March 31st, 2012.
More information including registration information can be found in the attachment below.
attachment: Parenting Now Workshop March 31
BTW
For your planning, please find attached this weeks edition of Bell This Week.
attachment: 12_03_19 Bell this Week.doc
Have an outstanding week!
Sincerely,
Bruce Whitehead – Principal